With only about ten percent of the population being left-handed, there are plenty of myths about us. Today we’re looking at myths and superstitions about left-handers and giving some explanations on why these came about. Maybe you’ve heard some of these before, especially if you’re left-handed.
Left-handed people didn’t always have it easy. Some still don’t. Lefties gained the label evil and were considered witches in the past. The word sinister comes from the Latin word for left as in left-handed. In 1969 TIME wrote, even “the devil himself was considered a southpaw. Left-handed gestures always conjured the devil and other evil spirits.”
In today’s world, left-handed people may no longer be considered sinister, weak, or wrong in most places. Their lives can still be difficult thanks to can-openers, computer mice, cars, spiral-bound notebooks, and school desks created for the right-handed majority. More and more items produced to help make left-handers’ lives better cost more than items made for their right-handed peers. Still, that is better than being accused of witchcraft or evilness every time they use their left hand.
Left-Handed Myths
Lefties are more creative
Left-handers tend to think creatively. What does that mean? It means that left-handers think outside the box. They come up with ideas and solutions that a logically minded right-hander might not. Left-handers appear to be more intuitive. They can read between the lines. So, are left-handers more creative than their right-handed peers? Yes and No. No, because they don’t draw, sing, play an instrument, or paint better or more creatively than right-handers. Yes, because they think more creatively than their right-handed peers. They can come up with solutions to problems a right-hander might not. They may find ways to paint, draw, etc., in a different way than right-handers making them seem more creative.
Lefties Make Better Leaders
Eight past U.S. presidents have been lefties. However, that is not a qualification for the job. No hard evidence shows that handedness has anything to do with their leadership skills. However, it appears that the basis for this idea is observations between leadership and handedness comes from looking at historical figures. The idea is that there is some commonality between individuals who are elected and successful. One commonality is handedness. Other successful people are left-handed like, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Bill Gates, and Oprah Winfrey. It’s thought that perhaps lefties are better at memory, controlling inhibitions, fighting, and maybe even more competitive than their right-handed peers, which are all valuable traits for leaders.
Lefties are more intelligent
Left-handed people have to be creative in their thinking. Lefties live their lives having to figure out how to make things designed for the right-handed majority work for them. Left-handed people can be quite adept at making things work. This may be what makes them appear more intelligent. They have to figure things out more than their right-handed counterparts.
Lefties are introverted
Another myth is that left-handed people are introverted. A study in New Zealand in 2013 found no differences across the five personality measures tested between right-handers and left-handers. “The stereotype [that left-handers are mentally or morally inferior] doesn’t reflect reality,” director of the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Wellington in New Zealand and author of this study, Gina Grimshaw, Ph.D., told Health.
Lefties are Right-Brained
The idea is that since most right-handed people use the brain’s left hemisphere to process language, left-handed people must use the right side of the brain in kind of a reversal of hemispheres. Dr. Grimshaw found that ninety-eight percent of righties are left-brained, but so are seventy percent of lefties. “For the most part, left-handers do not differ from right-handers. They certainly don’t have reversed brains,” Grimshaw told Health.
Lefties are Born to Mothers Stressed During Pregnancy
This myth is a bit iffy. Scientists are still trying to figure out what causes handedness. Studies have shown that stress levels and the mother’s age may have something to do with it. However, it’s more likely genetics, considering there is much that remains in studying how genes work.
Lefties are Healthier
Lefties may heal quicker than righties and have more protection against ulcers and arthritis thanks to their DNA.
Lefties Have a Better Life
For the most part, they do parts of the world that still believe in the left being bad. The Smithsonian magazine states that two-thirds of the world still view left-handedness as a defect. In parts of Europe, Africa, and the Far East, it’s considered offensive to use your left hand. I’d be in some trouble. I don’t do much without my left hand.
Superstitions
The following list isn’t about myths as much as it is superstitions about left-handers. I thought I’d ad it because I find them interesting.
- It is said that evil spirits lurk over the left shoulder. The remedy for this is to throw salt over the left shoulder to ward them off. In Roman times, salt was a valuable commodity, and it was considered bad luck to spill it. Thus throwing salt over the left shoulder would appease the devil.
- Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in 1431 as a witch and heretic. She may not have been left-handed but was depicted this way to make her seem evil
- It’s thought that getting out of bed with the left foot first means you’ll have a bad day and be bad-tempered. The saying get up on the wrong side of the bed.
- Ringing in your right ear means that someone praises you, and ringing in the left ear means someone is cursing you.
- If your right palm itches, it’s said you receive money. If your left itches it means you have to give money.
- It is believed that the Greeks and Romans were the first to wear wedding rings on their left ring finger to ward off the evil associated with the left hand.
- The Romans considered the left to be the lucky side and used it for augury. Augury is the interpretation of omens or divination. Later, they changed it back to the Greek methods and used the right side.
- The right hand symbolizes male while the left hand is female. This seems to be from the bible and Adam and Eve.
- The sound of a cuckoo heard from the right means a lucky year. From the left, the year will be unlucky.
- The Meru people of Kenya believed the left hand of their holy man held such evil power that he kept it hidden.
- If you have twitching in your right eye, you’ll see a friend. If your left eye twitches, you’ll see an enemy.
- In dressmaking, it’s bad luck to sew the left-hand sleeve onto a garment before the right sleeve.
- If your right foot itches before leaving on a trip, it’s good. If your left foot itches, you’ll have a bad trip.
- It’s bad luck to pass a drink to another person with your left hand or anti-clockwise around a table.
Conclusion
So, what do you think about these myths and superstitions? Isn’t it interesting how we were considered in the past? We were evil, devil-worshipping, witches with lousy luck if people believed all those things. What do you think? Have you had experience with any of these or heard any of them? Let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you.